Ah, the "joys" of living in town.
We have some fairly new neighbors. When they moved in I went over and introduced myself, and immediately sensed "something wrong" with the husband. I was neighborly and loaned him a shovel, and asked if their kids could play with my daughter, and things went OK. Mostly. But there was still something wrong with the guy.
The weeks have gone by and my opinions of him have continued to plummet. He is frequently sitting on his porch drinking beer and screaming and cussing at his kids. He seems to be the typical "Low IQ- no impulse control" sort of person who causes so many problems. For weeks now I have not allowed my daughter to go play in their yard if the dad is home, and she is to leave immediately if he comes home. And I stay outside to keep an eye on things while she is there.
Unfortunately, his young son is on track to be a clone of the dad, and frequently hits and tackles my daughter, even though he is a lot younger than she is. His older sister seems fairly normal, considering, and my daughter likes to play with her, but they really aren't allowed to play without the aggressive boy.
Tonight (September 8, 2013), my daughter and I were down the block on a parking lot and she was learning (successfully!) to ride her bike. The "problem neighbor's" house was between us and home. I heard some metal banging and tried to see the source, but could see nothing. Then I heard a woman yelling the guy's name. I hear a lot of yelling coming from that house every day, so I took it in stride.
Soon my daughter's mom came to the parking lot and told us avoid going past that house when returning home. She told me of the domestic fight- the husband was yelling, punching the house, the grill, the street sign pole, kicking stuff around the yard, and making animalistic grunts of anger- and that the woman was yelling for someone to call the cops (Hubby Dearest had apparently thrown her phone across the street), and was afraid I would get involved if I saw the guy hit his wife (which didn't happen as far as I know).
Now, when I am out with my daughter, SHE is my first priority. I am not going to do anything to endanger her- even if it means not stopping a murder. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. But, if I could have dropped her off at home first...
Anyway, we started home, going the long way around the block. When we were still a block away, the cop cars showed up.
I don't approve of the existence of cops, and really think the violent dumb guy should be allowed to face undiluted consequences for his behavior- some people just need to be shot in the act if they initiate force. As it turned out, no one was hauled off, the cops eventually left, and everyone went back inside. I'm betting that's not the end of it. I just hope when he tries to kill the family, they manage to put him down first. And I'll be watching just as closely as I have been- maybe a bit closer.
And my daughter isn't going to be playing in their yard anymore.
Added: at 11:45PM, after lots more screaming, the cops showed up again and were there for 20 minutes or so.
.